December 16, 2012

hello everybody:)
first off, there is no such thing as a letter that is too long, so don't feel pressured to condense anything or leave anything out;)

our plans for christmas is to have a sleepover with the all the elders, get up really early and go fishing, make an oom, and have a small celebration. then we will go to the Eldredge's and call home:) it should be fun

as for kosraean and present, future, and past tenses, there is a slight rule. the word "ac" (pronounced A as in way) means will. so there is a future tense. also, the "dari" means past or done. so there is a past tense. however, the past tense is not used much, and im still not really sure when to use it.

thank you so much for the recipies:) i haven't really got a chance to try them out yet, but i will eventually. the hardest part about cooking here is that we don't really know what's going to be at the stores, and im no cook, so i don't really know what to buy anyway. but i do make pancakes a lot:) and i also found some almond extract here so im going to make something deliciously almond flavored:)

it sounds like the motab concert was great:) im glad you guys got to go. we have been listening a lot to the motab/nat king cole album so i kind of got to experience it;)

i got a guitar the other day. there is a ahsiht (white guy/foreigner) who has a store that we were at and he actually had a gibson. so i picked it up:) it has been really fun and we have been christmas caroling with it.

i also gave my first talk in kosraean yesterday in church. i talked about as members of the church, we need to be good examples. it was about a 5 min talk, but i think everybody understood what i said.

for my missionary script. for the plaque, i really like mosiah 8:18. if it's on the list that would be great:)

there are little miracles here everyday, and most of them when shared wouldn't really seem like a big deal to anyone else, but that is part of the beauty of them: they are personal. a specific miracle that has happened was we were teaching a guy named spencer (by the way, names here are either very simple english names like john, smith, etc.; or, they are names like elsiye, tolpe, conapoo, etc.). anyway we are teaching this guy, and i don't really know what is being said, when elder conejero looks at me and asks if there is anything i want to say. and i said auk (yes) and then went on to talk about keeping the commandments and the results of obeying God, with specific focus on WoW. i talked for about 5 minutes straight in fluent kosraean. when we were finished with the lesson and were walking away, i asked what the lesson had been about and was told it was about the WoW. God knows exactly what people need to hear. we really dont need to speak kosraean well or be  good teachers; we just need to be worthy enough to be guided by the Spirit.

this part of the letter is dedicated to everyone who has sent me things via the mail. first off, i want you all to know that i appreciate each and every letter. they are blessings to me and i want to thank you. also, know that due to the christmas season, the mail service is not very fast, so a lot of you have letters coming, but don't be too surprised if they don't make it to you until sometime mid january. also, i have heard that letters mailed on the same day don't always arrive at the same time. but, i love each and every one of you and read your letters often. i am so happy to hear from you all and love reading your notes:)

i caught a lizard the other day and named it Mahana (as in the Johnny Lingo movie). technically it's name was "Mahana Kom Sifung" (Mahana you ugly). i was planning on growing it into the huge monitor lizards here on the island and use her as an object lesson, but i let her go. i think i would have killed her accidentally, so maybe once i learn how better to take care of one, i'll try again. it will not be a pet.

kennedy sent me a letter and told me that i have not described Kosrae very well. so:
the mountains here look like they are very far away, but in fact are just not super tall and are super steep. like if you were to run straight at the mountain, it would be the same as running at a wall.
also, here in lelu, there is a protective coral reef/rock garden around the beach, which means that the water is very calm for about 100 yds out, almost to the point of looking like a lake. the most beautiful lake you have ever seen.
everyone lives within sight of the ocean. there are only a few times where we go somewhere where we can't hear or see it.
there are really cool little birds, and really cool lizards. also, there are big bats. there are a lot of ants, cockroaches, and spiders. chickens and pigs run around the island.
the hard part about describing kosrae is that it is truly indescribable.

i love all of you sooo much and look forward to hearing from you every week. we check the mail a couple times a week, and letters usually take about 6 days to get here, so i also love hearing from you all via paper and pen:)

love,
Elder gerber